By Kevin Coughlin
David Bowie. Wolves. Manatees. Psychological explorations. Technology commentaries.
“I wanted to provide a lot of variety and different perspectives,” said Dr. Lynn Siebert, who assembled the Fall/Winter Invitational Exhibition at Morristown’s Atrium Gallery for Morris Arts.
The eclectic surprises fill four floors at 10 Court St. You can see them, for free, during business hours through Jan. 5, 2017. Here’s what we learned about some of the artists at the show’s opening.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin
“Since I was a boy I was fascinated with the horse,” said Nicholas Gamarello of Hunterdon County. So he started drawing. Soon he became captivated by World War II stories from his father and uncle, who were pilots. The camaraderie appealed to him. And then came the Rolling Stones and David Bowie, “one of the great artists of the last century.” All of these elements appear, and sometimes intersect, in Gamarello’s portion of the show.
One of Gail Winbury’s favorite pieces is Atropos, a massive abstract creation of oil, gold leaf and vellum. It’s named for a Greek goddess of fate– the one whose shears snip the thread of life for lowly mortals. If that sounds dark, well, what did you expect from someone who spent most of her life as a psychologist? “This is about the passive/aggressive nature in all of us,” said the Westfield painter. “All of my work tries to represent the human condition and emotions.”
Wolves are among Doug DePice’s pet subjects. And it’s not because he’s been teaching packs of them in public schools for decades, either. “We can learn a lot from their instincts, their brilliance, their society,” he said, referring to the four-legged species. Wolves remind him of the Jungian concept of dual souls–one individual, the other, ancestral. DePice views wolves as “part of our ancestral soul.”
Look closely, and you will see most of the titans of technology lurking in Cookie, a pen-and-collage-on-paper work by Brooklyn artist Etty Yaniv. “It’s about the intersection of technology and personal space,” said the native of Israel. Art is like breathing for her. “It’s a way of thinking, a way of life. I can’t even think of myself not doing art. It’s who I am.”
Cheryl Safren feels the same way. The Long Island schoolteacher’s paintings range from surreal abstractions to industrial chic to cartoon-like aquatic scenes. “I was an artist before I was a wife. I was an artist before I was a mother. It’s how I define myself. It’s who I am. I’m not happy if I’m not engaged in art.”